Sawmill Founder: Altadena’s Burned Trees Can Help Rebuild Neighborhoods

Heaps of oaks and pines that were burned in the Eaton Fire a year ago are gathered at a storage site on Lake Avenue, waiting and ready to be milled into the floorboards and trim of homes that will replace the ones they once shaded.

On Monday, the founder of the sawmill transforming those trees will explain how Altadena residents can put that lumber to use.

Jeff Perry of Angel City Lumber will speak in the Altadena Library Community Room at 600 E Mariposa St, in Altadena, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. about the Altadena Reciprocity Project, which is milling fire-damaged trees into finish-grade lumber to be sold at discounted prices to fire survivors. The presentation comes five days after the one-year anniversary of the fire that destroyed 9,414 structures and killed 19 people.

After the presentation, Perry will invite attendees to visit the log deck in Altadena where the salvaged trees are stored.

Angel City Lumber, based in Boyle Heights, has spent a decade milling fallen trees from across Los Angeles County. After the Eaton Fire ignited on January 7, Perry partnered with landscape architects Ruth Siegel and Blake Jopling to launch the Altadena Reciprocity Project, aimed at keeping the community’s trees in the community.

“Trees are a gift, from germination through death,” Perry has said. “And we can continue to utilize the gift of wood from these trees, or we can squander that gift, which I believe is very disrespectful.”

Roughly half the logs stored at the Las Flores Canyon site came from the Altadena Golf Course debris area, where the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers set them aside during cleanup operations. The other half come from a U.S. Forest Service contract to remove dead and hazard trees from the Angeles National Forest.

The lumber will produce millwork for flooring, molding, cabinet fronts, casings, and trim—applications where appearance matters but structural certification is not required. Perry estimates the project could yield one to two million board feet, enough to furnish 500 Altadena homes.

Lumber availability is targeted for Q1 2026. When ready, it will be sold at the Las Flores Canyon sawmill site—not at Angel City Lumber’s Boyle Heights location. Proof of Altadena residence will be required.

The timing matters. Lumber prices have doubled since the pandemic, and many Altadena residents face rebuilding costs 40 percent higher than originally anticipated. The project offers discounted material with a connection to the neighborhood’s history.

“By doing this, we’re hoping that those trees and their legacy will stay in the community,” Perry has said. “Their stories will live on, and it’ll maintain the spirit and vibe—essentially—of Altadena.”

For residents who lost both homes and trees, the appeal goes beyond price.

“Bringing that tree back into our lives, it’ll just be a constant reminder of those beautiful days that were and the amazing future that it’s gonna be,” said Matthew Burrows, an Altadena homeowner who lost everything in the fire and hopes to incorporate wood from his property into his rebuilt home.

The logs sit stacked now, still bearing char marks, waiting for the saws that will reveal the grain inside.

For more information contact Karen Bagnard at mermaidart@att.net.